Asian food stores thrive in Middletown

Ethnic tastes; wider menus draw patrons

Charanjit Singh was certain his Indian-American grocery store would succeed. Nine years and many customers later, Singh proved there's a sustainable market for mango pickle and exotic produce not stocked in a typical supermarket. His spark of inspiration came when cooking for his family in Orange County. "I was a chef in New ...

Charanjit Singh was certain his Indian-American grocery store would succeed.

Nine years and many customers later, Singh proved there's a sustainable market for mango pickle and exotic produce not stocked in a typical supermarket.

His spark of inspiration came when cooking for his family in Orange County.

"I was a chef in New Jersey, in Freehold and Parsippany, and I had family in Chester," Singh said at his shop, Aaojee, at 235 E. Main St. in Middletown. "I'd come and want to cook for them, and I had to go all the way to Edison (N.J.) for the groceries."

He also considered an immediate audience drawn from mosques and temples established in the area.

"I thought there was enough of a community to support an Indian food store," Singh said. "And once I opened, I realized there were a lot of other Americans who were waiting for it, too!"

The growing demand for Asian staples shows itself in both new and revitalized stores in the Middletown area. The Great Tang Supermarket opened this year in the former Redner's on Dolson Avenue. It offers Asian vegetables, sauces and spices. Aisles have signs in both Chinese and English. Latino specialties occupy one aisle. Purses made in China are stocked nearby.

Another shop, Asian Groceries and Halal Meat reopened under new management this month on Route 211 in the Town of Wallkill. Owner Tahir Mahmood has been busy preparing for Eiduladha, a Muslim holiday observed Friday. The store offers an assortment of staples popular in Arab and Indian cultures, and features halal meat, specially prepared goat, lamb, beef, veal, chicken and quail that Mahmood characterizes as "like a kosher version of Islamic ways."

His three weeks running the market have left Mahmood, an Orange County resident for 24 years and a member of the Middletown Islamic Center, enthused for its future.

"There's a large Islamic population in the area," he said, "and I have people coming all the way from Matamoras to buy meat, from Poughkeepsie and past Ellenville, Liberty."

A growing interest in Asian cuisines comes as no surprise to Shirley Cheng, a chef at the Culinary Institute of America in Hyde Park. Students there are required to study Chinese, Japanese, Korean, Thai, Vietnamese and Indian cookery.

"So you can see the popularity," Cheng said of a CIA mission of equipping tomorrow's chefs with expansive repertoires.

Cheng attributes the proliferation of Asian food markets to a growing Asian population, as well as to the sophistication of the American palate. Chinese doesn't just mean chow mein and egg foo young anymore.

"As the economy stays bad, consumers look for an alternative to going out to dinner," Mendelson said. "Asian groceries are growing where the Asian population is growing and where there's an interest in Asian-style cooking at home."

Akhtar Ali, a member of the Middletown Islamic Center, said he's been a patron of Aaojee (The word means "welcoming.") since the day it opened in 2003.

"I come here at least once a week," Ali said. "The price is so good, it's close to my house, and the owner is the best ever. You feel like a family when you shop here."

Beyond crates of fresh vegetables are shelves of spices, rices, teas and beans. Jars of ghee, a clarified butter essential for much of Indian cookery, fill one corner. There are also prepared meals cooked on the premises — all vegetarian — packaged and ready to go.

"The supermarkets don't sell the stuff we use," Ali said as he hoisted two filled shopping bags. "Some of the things, but not all."

As Ali spoke, Cindi Troia trolled for red beans in a nearby aisle. Troia, an occupational therapist from New Jersey, said aromas she's caught wafting from her clients' kitchens was leading her to try her hand at the cuisine for the first time.

"I've previously gotten premixed products at Trader Joe's," Troia said, "but if you want the real stuff, you have to go to the real place."

Singh counts as customers accomplished cooks looking for ingredients they can't find elsewhere, as well as neophytes experimenting with an unfamiliar cuisine.

"People come for the mangoes, for the spices like saffron," he said. "People come in with recipe books, looking for ingredients they may not know how to spell or pronounce."